“But in the three months after the earthquake, the relationship among faiths has evolved from one of rare unity to a fight for the Haitian soul. All hope to increase followers even as they assign blame for the quake. In the makeshift camps, along rubble-filled streets, Protestant preachers are battling Catholics as well as followers of Vodou, hoping to lure more congregants. “When I hear some of the Protestant churches in the neighborhoods, you have the impression that only Catholics lost people in the earthquake,” said William Smarth, a theology professor and diocese priest who was part of the liberation theology movement that helped oust former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier.”

“The new airport is a surly chaos of duffel bags and boxes. Most of the people milling helplessly appear to be groups of American fundamentalist Christians. There are a lot of kids on God-sanctioned adventures dressed in African safari gear and T-shirts proclaiming their goodness. They are excited and crass … a group of excited Baptists passed huge bags of beef jerky over the heads of the people they were coming to offer holy succour to.”

“On December 31, 2009, the Holy Spirit spoke through me and said: “I’m going to shake the earth. You will begin to see earthquakes—I am going to shake everything that can be shaken. Look where the earthquakes are hitting because God is going to release a wind of Pentecost in those places.” Since that time we have seen an increase in earthquake activity on a large scale. Haiti experienced horrible devastation during a recent quake. But afterward, the president called for three days of fasting and prayer for the nation. This was a miracle in a country that had formerly been dedicated to voodoo. With only five days’ notice, Christian leaders were able to gather about 1,000,000 people for a prayer meeting. On that day, the winds of Pentecost did indeed blow. Three thousand people were saved—among them 101 voodoo priests. It seems the back of the strongman of the occult was broken in that land, and I believe a new Haiti will arise.”

“…religious leaders feel an urgent need to act while Haitians’ hearts are open to spiritual transformation, said the Rev. Revenel Benoit, who leads approximately 200 Lutheran churches in Haiti…”

I’d feel more optimistic about all this if “open to spiritual transformation” didn’t simply seem to be a somewhat crass euphemism for easily influenced due to post-traumatic stress, and there weren’t reports of literal witch-hunts taking place against Vodouisants that may be partially instigated by the missionary groups handing out jerky and prayer. It gives an impression that Christian organizations and churches are glorying in natural devastation, so it can do the work that a post-Enlightenment secular Western culture will no longer allow them to do without repercussions.